Charlotte Higgins on culture + Art | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog+artanddesign/art
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Planning cock-up on Trafalgar Square's Fourth Plinthhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/may/01/art-sculpture
Katharina Fritsch's sculpture of a vast blue cockerel has been ruffling feathers. For all the wrong reasons<p>The Fourth Plinth would be no fun without a bit of fuss and bother; and in its eight year history as the site of a <a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/fourthplinth/commissions">rolling programme of temporary new sculpture</a> it has certainly offered plenty of that. The empty plinth in Trafalgar Square, in the purlieus of the National Gallery, has hosted Marc Quinn's marble sculpture of a disabled woman, Alison Lapper Pregnant; Elmgreen and Dragset's boy on a rocking horse, their gentle takedown of the idea of equestrian sculpture; and, perhaps most joyfully, Antony Gormley's One and Other, when members of the public were able to adopt the plinth for their own for an hour at a time, and it became a surreal stage for ordinary and extraordinary exhibitionism for the summer of 2009. </p><p>So the <a href="http://www.thethorneyislandsociety.org.uk/index.php/planning">planning objection</a> registered by the Thorney Island Society to the erection of a <a href="http://www.london.gov.uk/fourthplinth/commissions/shortlist2010/katharina-fritsch">vast royal-blue farmyard bird in Trafalgar Square</a> this July does no more than add to the gaiety of the nation. In fact, <a href="http://www.matthewmarks.com/new-york/artists/katharina-fritsch/selected-works/">Katharina Fritsch</a>'s big blue cockerel promises to be no more peculiar than any of the previous incumbents, but the Thorney Island Society – named for the island on which Westminster Abbey was founded – begs to disagree. The society, which calls itself a "watchdog on local planning issues" finds the proposal "to be totally inappropriate; however fanciful and dramatic it might appear to be … We cannot see any logical reason for the proposed sculpture to be placed on the fourth plinth. It is unrelated to the context of Trafalgar Square and adds nothing to it but a feeble distraction." </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/may/01/art-sculpture">Continue reading...</a>CultureArt and designArtSculptureFourth plinthLondonWed, 01 May 2013 15:18:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/may/01/art-sculpturePhotograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesCocking a snook? ... the proposed Fourth Plinth work by artist Katharina Fitsch. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesCocking a snook? ... the proposed Fourth Plinth work by artist Katharina Fitsch. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty ImagesCharlotte Higgins2013-05-01T15:18:00ZAlex Beard, deputy director of Tate, to succeed Tony Hall as head of Royal Opera Househttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/mar/19/alex-beard-opera-house
Alex Beard helped build Tate Modern, but has never worked in opera or dance. Now he is to take on one of Britain's most prominent arts jobs – boss of the Royal Opera House<p><a href="http://www.tate.org.uk/about/who-we-are/tate-structure-and-staff/deputy-director">Alex Beard</a>, deputy director of the Tate, has been announced as the new chief executive of the Royal Opera House, succeeding Tony Hall who will become director general of the BBC next month.</p><p>Beard is, just as was Hall a dozen years ago, a surprise appointment to one of the biggest jobs in British cultural life. He has never worked in the performing arts, but has been part of Tate's senior management since 1994 – first as director of finance and, for the past decade, as Sir Nicholas Serota's deputy.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/mar/19/alex-beard-opera-house">Continue reading...</a>CultureClassical musicMusicDanceRoyal Opera HouseArt and designArtStageTony HallMediaMuseumsTate ModernTate BritainTate LiverpoolGlyndebourneTue, 19 Mar 2013 17:36:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/mar/19/alex-beard-opera-houseCharlotte Higgins2013-03-19T17:36:00ZTurner prize goes to Glasgow in 2015https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/jan/11/art-turnerprize
The Tate has confirmed that the 2015 Turner prize will be awarded at the Tramway in Glasgow<p>The 2015 Turner prize, the Tate has confirmed, will be presented in Glasgow: specifically, in the southside arts centre, <a href="http://www.tramway.org/Pages/home.aspx">Tramway</a>.</p><p>It will be the fourth time that the prize has migrated outside London and its traditional home, Tate Britain. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/jan/11/art-turnerprize">Continue reading...</a>CultureArtArt and designTurner prizeScotlandTate BritainNicholas SerotaGlasgowRichard WrightKarla BlackMartin BoyceSusan PhilipszFri, 11 Jan 2013 14:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/jan/11/art-turnerprizePhotograph: PRNext stop for the Turner prize ... the Glasgow Tramway arts centre.Photograph: PRNext stop for the Turner prize ... the Glasgow Tramway arts centre.Charlotte Higgins2013-01-11T14:30:00ZKate's portrait – straight from the Twilight franchisehttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/jan/11/kate-portrait-twilight-paul-emsley
The Duchess of Cambridge's official portrait, by Paul Emsley, shows her washed-out, heavy-lidded and seemingly fanged<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/jan/11/duchess-of-cambridge-portrait" title="">Kate Middleton</a> is – whatever you think of the monarchy and all its inane surrounding pomp – a pretty young woman with an infectious smile, a cascade of chestnut hair and a healthy bloom. So how is it that she has been transformed into <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=guardian,+breaking+dawn&amp;um=1&amp;hl=en&amp;client=safari&amp;sa=N&amp;tbo=d&amp;rls=en&amp;biw=1398&amp;bih=994&amp;tbm=isch&amp;tbnid=WNhZKabWRz7hGM:&amp;imgrefurl=http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2012/mar/27/twilight-saga-breaking-dawn-part-2&amp;docid=zTqzlyZRuf_gAM&amp;imgurl=http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2012/3/27/1332836252765/Twilight-Breaking-Dawn-2--008.jpg&amp;w=460&amp;h=276&amp;ei=7wLwUJWVFKKb0QWix4GIAw&amp;zoom=1&amp;iact=hc&amp;vpx=1069&amp;vpy=396&amp;dur=1843&amp;hovh=174&amp;hovw=290&amp;tx=222&amp;ty=105&amp;sig=112300307140129033561&amp;page=2&amp;tbnh=154&amp;tbnw=257&amp;start=39&amp;ndsp=46&amp;ved=1t:429,r:78,s:0,i:322" title="">something unpleasant from the Twilight franchise</a>? The first thing that strikes you about Middleton's visage as it looms from the sepulchral gloom of her first official portrait is the dead eyes: a vampiric, malevolent glare beneath heavy lids. Then there's the mouth: a tightly pursed, mean little lip-clench (she is, presumably, sucking in her fangs). And god knows what is going on with the washed-out cheeks: she appears to be nurturing a gobbet of gum in her lower right cheek. The hair is dull and lifeless; the glimpse of earring simply lifts her to the status of Sloaney, rather than merely proletarian, undead.</p><p>Royal portraits are, of course, a killer. It takes a very great artist indeed to pull off anything beyond insipidity, and the only recent painting of the Queen that is at all memorable – or has any pretensions to psychological insight – is, needless to say, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1720000/images/_1723071_queen_freud300.jpg" title="">Lucian Freud's</a> – a kindly, even pitying image, but completely uncompromising. <a href="http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp93261/paul-emsley" title="">Paul Emsley</a>, by contrast, seems to have taken fear at the commission: at his best, he is a much better artist than this work suggests. A <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/apr/27/artnews.art" title="">portrait of fellow artist Michael Simpson</a>, which won the BP Portrait award in 2007, was full of an ethereal tenderness and lightness. But his painting of Middleton lacks that sense of the delicate evanescence of the flesh: instead, she has been flattened into a curious Vaseline-smeared, soft-focus dullness.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/jan/11/kate-portrait-twilight-paul-emsley">Continue reading...</a>PaintingArtArt and designThe Duchess of CambridgeMonarchyUK newsCultureFri, 11 Jan 2013 12:45:16 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2013/jan/11/kate-portrait-twilight-paul-emsleyPhotograph: NPG/Rex FeaturesLooming from the gloom … the first official portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge by Paul Emsley. Photograph: NPG/Rex FeaturesPhotograph: NPG/Rex FeaturesLooming from the gloom … the first official portrait of the Duchess of Cambridge by Paul Emsley. Photograph: NPG/Rex FeaturesCharlotte Higgins2013-01-11T12:45:16ZBridget Riley presented with Sikkens prize for her work in colourhttps://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/oct/29/bridget-riley-sikkens-prize-colour
Artist famed for her abstract monochrome op art gives rare interview after scooping Dutch award<p>When Bridget Riley first started to make abstract paintings – beginning in 1961 with her chequerboard composition <a href="http://www.artscouncilcollection.org.uk/loadWork.do?id=2077" title="">Movement in Squares</a> – she banished colour from her art, using only black and white. It was six years later, in 1967, that she began introducing colour to her dazzling geometric compositions. This week, the painter, one of Britain's most revered living artists, has become the first Briton and the first woman to win the <a href="http://www.sikkensfoundation.org/en/sikkensprijs/index.html" title="">Sikkens prize</a>, a Dutch award recognising the use of colour.</p><p>Previous winners include US artist Donald Judd, but also the Paris street-cleaning department, "for the consistent use of the colour green", and, in the 1970s, hippies, "for the exuberant use of colour as a playful aspect in human society".</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/oct/29/bridget-riley-sikkens-prize-colour">Continue reading...</a>Bridget RileyAwards and prizesArtArt and designCultureMon, 29 Oct 2012 21:28:17 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/oct/29/bridget-riley-sikkens-prize-colourPhotograph: Christopher Thomond for the GuardianBridget Riley’s work at Liverpool’s Walker gallery. The artist is the first woman to win the Dutch Sikkens prize. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the GuardianPhotograph: Christopher Thomond for the GuardianBridget Riley’s work at Liverpool’s Walker gallery. The artist is the first woman to win the Dutch Sikkens prize. Photograph: Christopher Thomond for the GuardianCharlotte Higgins, chief arts writer2012-10-29T21:28:17ZNational Gallery director writes off video, conceptual art, performance arthttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/oct/15/nicholas-penny-video-art
Nicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery, has offered some characteristically trenchant views on contemporary art<p>A byway in Frieze week, a small tributary running into the main stream, has been the simultaneous publication of two interviews, by Frieze Masters magazine and the Art Newspaper, with the director of the National Gallery, Nicholas Penny. And what intriguing reads they are. Penny, let it be said, is an incredibly scholarly man. If you took him, Neil MacGregor at the British Museum and Nicholas Serota at Tate, clever men all three, you could crudely characterise them thus: MacGregor the charismatic communicator, Serota the enigmatic powerhouse, Penny the professorial academic. Penny does things differently. He's not quite the conventional boss of a large public institution. Flag him down at a private view as a journalist and ask him a question, and he's at least as likely to start reciting poetry (what was I had last time? Tennyson? Pope?) as to utter a sensible answer. He's donnish, in the old-school manner. </p><p>All of which is by way of introduction to his remarks about contemporary art in these two interviews, which you may regard either as staggeringly shortsighted, or an instance of someone telling the truth about art that is overinflated and overhyped by the media, museums and the market.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/oct/15/nicholas-penny-video-art">Continue reading...</a>CultureArt and designArtNational GalleryVideo artMuseumsModernismThe art marketBritish MuseumTate ModernTate BritainNicholas SerotaPerformance artMon, 15 Oct 2012 08:07:26 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/oct/15/nicholas-penny-video-artCharlotte Higgins2012-10-15T08:07:26ZRift deepens between Scottish artists and Creative Scotland, as despairing open letter is publishedhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/oct/09/open-letter-creative-scotland
A hundred names from the Scottish arts establishment – including Ian Rankin, Douglas Gordon and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies – have expressed their dismay at Creative Scotland's policies with a heartfelt open letter<p>Over 100 Scottish artists, including three Turner-prize winners, a Booker winner and a winner of the Costa award have written an open letter protesting at the "deepening malaise" at <a href="http://www.creativescotland.com/">Creative Scotland</a>. It is the latest iteration of what now looks like an unbreachable rift between the Scottish arts community and their national funding body. </p><p>Signatories amount to the bulk of the Scottish arts establishment. As well as the artist Douglas Gordon, and novelists James Kelman and AL Kennedy, they include the Scots national poet Liz Lochhead, master of the Queen's music Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and writer Alasdair Gray.</p><p>Dear Sir Sandy</p><p>We write to express our dismay at the ongoing crisis in Creative Scotland. A series of high-profile stories in various media are only one sign of a deepening malaise within the organisation, the fall-out from which confronts those of us who work in the arts in Scotland every day.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/oct/09/open-letter-creative-scotland">Continue reading...</a>CultureScotlandArts fundingArts policyJames KelmanAL KennedyLiz LochheadDon PatersonMartin BoyceKarla BlackAlasdair GrayStageBooksArtArt and designPoetryMusicClassical musicTue, 09 Oct 2012 09:41:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/oct/09/open-letter-creative-scotlandCharlotte Higgins2012-10-09T09:41:00ZTino Sehgal, participatory art and the Booker prize: a week in the artshttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jul/26/tino-sehgal-booker-prize-turbine-hall
Who's on – and off – the Man Booker longlist, varying responses to Tino Sehgal's new Turbine Hall installation and the Twitter debate about who should be paid in participatory art<p>• <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/25/booker-prize-2012-longlist" title="">The Man Booker longlist</a> – sans Tremain, Lanchester, Amis, McEwan, Pat Barker, Banville, and, most surprisingly, Smith, was announced. Gaby Wood on the Telegraph, who was a judge on the much-criticised prize last year, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/booker-prize/9427534/The-Man-Booker-2012-longlist-tells-a-story-about-the-landscape-of-fiction.html" title="">welcomed the fact</a> that the longlist supports "ambition and experiment". Justine Jordan of this parish, though bewildered by the absence of Zadie Smith (and yes, she has read it) <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/25/booker-prize-judges-favour-eccentricity-innovation" title="">praised the list's "eccentricity and invention"</a>. (When pressed in person she suggested that if you're going to read one book on the list, aside from the one you already have – the Mantel – it should be <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/data/book/fiction/9780571275762/narcopolis?INTCMP=ILCBKSTXT4886" title="">Narcopolis by Jeet Thayil</a>. I'm also hearing from early readers that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/books/data/book/fiction/9781408820148/umbrella" title="">the Will Self</a> is very good.)</p><p>• The new Turbine Hall installation, These Associations by Tino Sehgal, opened. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jul/23/tino-sehgal-tate-modern-turbine-hall?newsfeed=true" title="">I wrote a report on the work</a>, in which participants approach members of the public and tell them a story about themselves, and Adrian Searle gave it a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jul/23/tino-sehgal-these-associations-review?intcmp=239" title="">really enthusiastic, five-star review</a>. Jonathan Jones offered a view on the fact that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/jonathanjonesblog/2012/jul/24/tino-sehgal-live-art-moments?newsfeed=true" title="">there are no official photos allowed of Sehgal's work</a>. Alastair Sooke in the Telegraph was <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/art-reviews/9421678/Tino-Sehgal-Turbine-Hall-Tate-Modern-review.html" title="">less enthusiastic</a>, saying: "There is still a whiff of artifice about their stories, which feel polished and rehearsed."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jul/26/tino-sehgal-booker-prize-turbine-hall">Continue reading...</a>CultureTino SehgalBooker prizeTurbine HallTate ModernArtArt and designTheatreStageClassical musicBooksFictionThu, 26 Jul 2012 14:43:33 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jul/26/tino-sehgal-booker-prize-turbine-hallPhotograph: Johnny GreenWhat's the story? ... Tino Sehgal with some of the participants in his latest work for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, These Associations. Photograph: Johnny GreenPhotograph: Johnny GreenWhat's the story? ... Tino Sehgal with some of the participants in his latest work for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall, These Associations. Photograph: Johnny GreenCharlotte Higgins2012-07-26T14:43:33ZCulture coach: the week's essential arts storieshttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jul/12/cultural-olympiad-theatre
Berlin worried about its Old Masters, and Sam West and Andrew Lloyd-Webber spoke out about arts funding in Britain<p>• Ben Hoyle of the Times (paywall) <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/world/europe/article3467290.ece">has a peek behind the scenes of the Rijksmuseum</a> in the Netherlands: "When the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam closed its doors for renovation work in December 2003, it was expected to reopen by 2006. Nine years and €375 million later, most of it public money, one of the world's greatest museums is still a building site… but the end is finally in sight — and The Times was given an exclusive preview of the inside of the building to prove it…" </p><p>• Two strong statements about politics and funding in the arts, from <a href=" http://bit.ly/NiSCJt ">Sam West</a> and <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201213/ldhansrd/text/120709-0002.htm#1207102000034">Andrew Lloyd-Webber</a>. </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jul/12/cultural-olympiad-theatre">Continue reading...</a>CultureCultural OlympiadStageTheatreDanceArt and designArtMuseumsClassical musicPromsBooksAndrew Lloyd WebberThu, 12 Jul 2012 18:25:04 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jul/12/cultural-olympiad-theatreCharlotte Higgins2012-07-12T18:25:04ZThe arts funding row in Scotland - and why it matters to the rest of the UKhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jul/09/arts-funding-row-scotland
Creative Scotland has put 49 companies on to project-based lottery funding – unleashing a host of concerns about the principles and ideologies at play in Scottish arts subsidy<p>I have spent nearly a week listening to people, talking, reading about the row that has been brewing for nearly a month in Scotland, and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jul/09/arts-body-scottish-culture">I've written a piece about it</a>. It seemed to demand some further thoughts and analysis, hence this blog. It seems to me that – though other people's funding can seem distant, complex and frankly dull – the politics of all this really matters for those in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. There is not yet a national border between England and Scotland. The arts know no boundaries. What happens to theatre in Inverness can have repercussions in Exeter; just as what happens to a small gallery outside Edinburgh can affect the National Galleries of Scotland. So here are some footnotes to my article. For further reading (!) start with <a href="http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/joyce-mcmillan-start-again-there-s-plenty-of-talent-around-1-2316426">Joyce McMillan's eloquent column</a> in the Scotsman that sparked this all off. And look at the <a href="http://stramasharts.wordpress.com/">Stramash</a> blog, at <a href="http://annebonnar.wordpress.com/">Anne Bonnar</a>'s blog and at Variant magazine's long <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&amp;rct=j&amp;q=&amp;esrc=s&amp;source=web&amp;cd=1&amp;ved=0CFIQFjAA&amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.variant.org.uk%2Fpdfs%2Fissue41%2Fadixon.pdf&amp;ei=cVXsT6O1F4eS-wbGoqXkBQ&amp;usg=AFQjCNEAnILXn1FnTRo5uUonpEaFZYiWNA">interview with Andrew Dixon</a> of <a href="http://www.creativescotland.com/">Creative Scotland</a>. </p><p><strong>Has the world turned upside down?</strong></p><p>Lottery funding is distinct from Government funding and adds value. Although it does not substitute for Exchequer expenditure, where appropriate it complements Government and other programmes, policies and funding.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jul/09/arts-funding-row-scotland">Continue reading...</a>Arts fundingCultureTheatreArt and designArtScotlandMon, 09 Jul 2012 08:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jul/09/arts-funding-row-scotlandCharlotte Higgins2012-07-09T08:00:00ZCulture coach: the week's essential arts storieshttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/28/nora-ephron-spice-girls
RIP Nora Ephron; the Spice Girls musical girl-powered into London; and the Venezuelans hit the South Bank<p>• What you always wanted: the Spice Girls musical. Mark Brown <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jun/26/spice-girls-launch-west-end-musical">reported</a>. Viva Forever! with book by Jennifer Saunders, is at the Piccadilly Theatre from December. He told me the publicist had said it was like herding cats, getting those women together for the photo opp.</p><p>• The British Museum and the V&amp;A have been given an Art Fund grant to establish a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/jun/27/arab-spring-photographs-british-museum-vanda">contemporary photography collection</a> charting changes in the Middle East. The most recent works relate to the Arab Spring.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/28/nora-ephron-spice-girls">Continue reading...</a>CultureTheatreArtArt and designClassical musicSpice GirlsThu, 28 Jun 2012 14:12:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/28/nora-ephron-spice-girlsCharlotte Higgins2012-06-28T14:12:00ZCulture coach: the week's essential arts storieshttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/21/cultural-olympiad-theatre
The London 2012 festival began; the Government championed arts philanthropy; speculation continued over the next chair of Arts Council England<p>• The London 2012 festival opens today. There will be <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2012/jun/19/cultural-olympiad-prepares-grand-opening">lots of art</a>. One of the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/jun/20/dudamel-bolivar-sistema-raploch-bignoise">opening night events</a> is the Simón Bolívar Orchestra of Venezuela with the children of the Big Noise in Raploch.</p><p>• The recipients of Catalyst endowment funding (jointly from ACE, the HLF and DCMS) <a href="http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/36532/rsc-and-old-vic-among-recipients-of-56"> were announced</a>. Fifty-six organisations are to receive sums to enable them to grow endowments, a form of funding common in the US, though currently controversial because of low yields during this difficult period for investments. The Old Vic theatre was a big winner at £5m. The announcement has been a long time coming, presumably not least because of the budget mess-up on tax relief for charitable donations.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/21/cultural-olympiad-theatre">Continue reading...</a>CultureCultural OlympiadTheatreDanceBooksStageArt and designArtPhilanthropyArts fundingPeter BazalgetteZadie SmithEl SistemaJeremy HuntLondon 2012 festivalThu, 21 Jun 2012 12:55:42 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/21/cultural-olympiad-theatreCharlotte Higgins2012-06-21T12:55:42ZCulture coach: the week's essential arts storieshttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/14/theatre-art
The week when theatre-goers sat still for eight hours, the artworld shipped out to Documenta and Danny Boyle presented sheep, rainclouds, ducks and real hills for the opening ceremony of the London Olympics<p>• Danny Boyle unveiled his set model for the Olympics opening ceremony, which looked like a lovely big train set but without the trains. Glastonbury Tor, valleys and hills, a real plough doing actual ploughing; sheep, horses, ducks and chickens; a real cricket match; rainclouds emitting real rain: all will be part of the opening scene, but expect surprises – the narrative will move on to present a more urban vision of Britain. (Some of my Twitter pals thought that a giant Wicker Man might be rather good to match this "mythic landscape".) <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/jun/12/london-2012-olympic-opening-ceremony">Report</a> from our Olympics editor Owen Gibson. You'd think the Mail would love this green-and-pleasant business, but they thought<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2158062/Hundreds-farm-animals-cricket-pitch-maypoles-fake-clouds-rain--vision-Britain-world-27m-Olympic-opening.html"> it resembled Tellytubbyland</a>. The Mail also rather unsportingly <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2159042/A-river-runs-The-Thames-takes-centre-stage-Olympic-opening-ceremony.html">published an aerial view</a> of the set being built – showing that the initial scenario will develop to show London and the Thames.</p><p>• Every five years the artworld gets an important tour d'horizon via Documenta, where the townscape and buildings of Kassel are filled with new work. Adrian Searle <a href="www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/jun/11/documenta-13-review">reviewed</a> it. He missed the Spanish greyhound with the pink-dyed leg.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/14/theatre-art">Continue reading...</a>CultureTheatreArt and designArtMusicOperaCultural OlympiadBooksDanny BoyleThu, 14 Jun 2012 13:59:40 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/14/theatre-artCharlotte Higgins2012-06-14T13:59:40ZHogarth revisited: Grayson Perry uses tapestries to tackle taste and classhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/06/hogarth-grayson-perry-tapestries
Latest artworks recall 18th-century satire with a modern twist. <strong>Charlotte Higgins</strong> even spots herself in the weave<p>For his new set of tapestries, which <a href="http://www.victoria-miro.com/exhibitions/_429/" title="">go on display to the public in London on 7 June</a>, <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/grayson-perry" title="">Grayson Perry</a> has tackled those brittle, ticklish subjects: taste and class.</p><p>Perry became part class tourist, part ethnographer to create the works, the genesis of which is charted in <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/in-the-best-possible-taste-grayson-perry" title="">a three-part Channel&nbsp;4 series All in the Best Possible Taste</a>, which started on Tuesday.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/06/hogarth-grayson-perry-tapestries">Continue reading...</a>Grayson PerryArtArt and designWilliam HogarthCultureCeramicsExhibitionsTue, 05 Jun 2012 23:01:03 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jun/06/hogarth-grayson-perry-tapestriesPhotograph: PRDetail from The Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close – one of Grayson Perry's set of six new tapestries.Photograph: PRDetail from The Expulsion from Number 8 Eden Close – one of Grayson Perry's set of six new tapestries.Charlotte Higgins, chief arts writer2012-06-05T23:01:03ZThe week that Maurice Sendak died and Jaggergate brokehttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/may/10/maurice-sendak-bianca-jagger
It was the week that Maurice Sendak died and Bianca Jagger had a fight at the opera. Here are the past seven days' biggest arts stories from around the web<p>Each Thursday, I round up the biggest arts news of the week, recommend some longer reads and have a look over the horizon. Here are the main stories:</p><p>• The great, beloved Maurice Sendak died. The famously grumpy author gave <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/oct/02/maurice-sendak-interview">wonderfully crotchety interview </a> to Emma Brockes last year.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/may/10/maurice-sendak-bianca-jagger">Continue reading...</a>CultureBooksMaurice SendakMusicClassical musicArt and designArtCultural OlympiadEducationOperaTheatreMuseumsAi WeiweiThu, 10 May 2012 16:06:56 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/may/10/maurice-sendak-bianca-jaggerPhotograph: Tim Knox/GuardianThe 'great, beloved' children's author Maurice Sendak died on 8 May. Photograph: Tim Knox for the GuardianPhotograph: Tim Knox/GuardianThe 'great, beloved' children's author Maurice Sendak died on 8 May. Photograph: Tim Knox for the GuardianCharlotte Higgins2012-05-10T16:06:56ZCulture coach: The week's essential arts storieshttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/may/03/art-theatre
Every week I'll round up the biggest arts stories from around the web, recommend a long read and look ahead at what's coming up<p>Each Thursday, I am going to round up the main arts stories of the week. Here's the first instalment.</p><p>• It was Turner prize shortlist week. Here's Adrian Searle's <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/poll/2012/may/01/turner-prize-2012-awards-and-prizes">verdict</a> on Spartacus Chetwynd, Paul Noble, Elizabeth Price, and Luke Fowler. Fowler is yet another Glaswegian – or, rather Glasgow-based artist. He studied in Dundee. (Trivia: Elizabeth Price was in the 1980s indie band <a href="http://www.utterlyutterly.co.uk/talulahgosh/">Talulah Gosh</a>, as was the philosophy editor of Oxford University Press and the chief economist and director of mergers at the Office of Fair Trading.)</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/may/03/art-theatre">Continue reading...</a>CultureArtArt and designBooksTheatreStageFilmMusicLucian FreudMary BeardEdvard MunchKen RussellHilary MantelJohn PeelThu, 03 May 2012 11:45:18 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/may/03/art-theatrePhotograph: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesEdvard Munch's 'The Scream' is auctioned at Sotheby's in New York Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesEdvard Munch's 'The Scream' is auctioned at Sotheby's in New York Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesCharlotte Higgins2012-05-03T11:45:18ZGlaswegian shoes come off for bouncy Stonehengehttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/may/02/bouncy-stonehenge-glasgow
Olympic project was almost scuppered by discovery of similar inflatable monument created two years previously<p>Two thousand people a day have come to frolic on Jeremy Deller's latest artwork – a bouncy castle that is a precise replica of <a href="http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/" title="">Stonehenge</a>. Men, women, children: all leap, stride and somersault on Glasgow's new favourite playground before it travels south to become one of the attractions of the <a href="http://festival.london2012.com/events/search.php?categoryIds=&amp;searchString=jeremy+deller&amp;searchLocation=Town+or+Postcode&amp;startDate=From+Date&amp;endDate=To+Date&amp;event-search-submit=Find+Events" title="">London 2012 festival</a>.</p><p>A neat idea, you might think. Sacrilege, as Deller has called his work, is not only a lot of fun (it is impossible not to smile when you shed your shoes, dignity, and understanding of gravity), but also thought-provoking.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/may/02/bouncy-stonehenge-glasgow">Continue reading...</a>SculptureArtCultureUK newsOlympic Games 2012Olympic GamesWed, 02 May 2012 17:35:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/may/02/bouncy-stonehenge-glasgowPhotograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesJeremy Deller's Sacrilege. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesJeremy Deller's Sacrilege. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty ImagesCharlotte Higgins2012-05-02T17:35:01ZDavid Hockney: 'I followed reaction to my show on Twitter'https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jan/30/david-hockney-twitter
At the RCA, where he was showing a film about his blockbuster show, David Hockney told me his views on tweeting, iPads and how things have changed since his student days<p>This afternoon I went down to the <a href="http://www.rca.ac.uk/" title="">Royal College of Art</a> in London, which is celebrating its 175th anniversary. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/hockney" title="">David Hockney</a>, who graduated 50 years ago, was there to show the students <a href="http://www.colugapictures.com/" title="">David Hockney: A Bigger Picture</a>, a film made by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2687182/" title="">Bruno Wollheim</a> about his blockbuster <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jan/16/david-hockney-landscapes" title="">Royal Academy show</a>. (Incidentally, it only occurred to me when I was there that A Bigger Picture is a reference to <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/hockney/splash/hockney.splash.jpg" title="">A Bigger Splash</a> – doh!)</p><p>In the main gallery, students were putting the finishing touches to their installations. There was a table, set as if for a banquet, with models of fantastical buildings behind the place settings and vegetation including a cauliflower "growing" down the middle. Another featured a selection of posters based on the "<a href="http://www.keepcalmandcarryon.com/" title="">Keep calm and carry on</a>" meme, with slogans including "Post-human has no privacy settings" and "Would you invest in Slough?".</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jan/30/david-hockney-twitter">Continue reading...</a>David HockneyPaintingArtExhibitionsArt and designCultureTwitterTechnologyMon, 30 Jan 2012 17:48:22 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jan/30/david-hockney-twitterPhotograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty ImagesDavid Hockney poses for photographers during the press view of his Royal Academy show, David Hockney: A Bigger Picture. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty ImagesDavid Hockney poses for photographers during the press view of his Royal Academy show, David Hockney: A Bigger Picture. Photograph: Carl Court/AFP/Getty ImagesAlex Needham2012-01-30T17:48:22ZAi Weiwei, Yayoi Kusama, Inside Out: three life-enhancing projects for 2012https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jan/05/ai-weiwei-yayoi-kusama-inside-out
Three pieces of art news have made January brighter already<p>Since I came back to work on Tuesday, reports of three projects have cheered up the dark days of early January.</p><p>The first is regarding Ai Weiwei, undoubtedly the most significant artist of 2011. At the end of November, a huge show called Absent opened in Taiwan. Forever Bicycles, consisting of 1,200 bicycles, is the most recent installation, which writer <a href="http://www.fastcodesign.com/1665720/ai-weiwei-piles-1200-bikes-on-top-of-each-other-for-dazzling-effect">James Gaddy</a> puts in the tradition of work with bicycle wheels by Duchamp and <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/pablo-picasso">Picasso</a>. Is it bad that my first thought was of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHQG6-DojVw">this Katie Melua song</a>?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jan/05/ai-weiwei-yayoi-kusama-inside-out">Continue reading...</a>Ai WeiweiArt and designArtInstallationYayoi KusamaThu, 05 Jan 2012 11:20:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2012/jan/05/ai-weiwei-yayoi-kusama-inside-outPhotograph: Wally Santana/APReinventing the wheel … Ai Weiwei's Forever Bicycles, part of his Absent exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Photograph: Wally Santana/APPhotograph: Wally Santana/APReinventing the wheel … Ai Weiwei's Forever Bicycles, part of his Absent exhibition at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. Photograph: Wally Santana/APAlex Needham2012-01-05T11:20:00ZThis week's arts diaryhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2011/dec/06/arts-diary-rsc-ostermeier-alasdair-gray-turner
Could there be a 'German bailout' for the RSC? The award refusal that was refused, and will Glasgow get a Turner?<p>Thomas Ostermeier's widely acclaimed production of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/nov/13/thomas-ostermeier-hamlet-schaubuhne" title="">Hamlet</a>, which the director brought to London last week from his home theatre the Schaubühne in Berlin, has set theatrical tongues wagging, despite the fact that the first night was cancelled due to the strikes (which caused me to miss it). Mad and messy, radical and muddy, it was, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/dec/02/theatre-shakespeare" title="">wrote the Guardian's Lyn Gardner</a>, not for a single&nbsp;second dull. And how many domestic Shakespeare productions can&nbsp;you say that of? (And I'm afraid I'm not excluding the other London <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/nov/10/hamlet-michael-sheen-reviews" title="">Hamlet</a> with Michael Sheen at the Young Vic.)</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2011/dec/06/arts-diary-rsc-ostermeier-alasdair-gray-turner">Continue reading...</a>Royal Shakespeare CompanyTheatreStageWilliam ShakespeareMark RavenhillAlasdair GrayBooksTurner prizeArtAwards and prizesArt and designCultureThomas OstermeierTue, 06 Dec 2011 21:31:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/charlottehigginsblog/2011/dec/06/arts-diary-rsc-ostermeier-alasdair-gray-turnerPhotograph: Tristram Kenton/GuardianThomas Ostermeier’s Hamlet, at the Barbican in London. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the GuardianPhotograph: Tristram Kenton/GuardianThomas Ostermeier’s Hamlet, at the Barbican in London. Photograph: Tristram Kenton for the GuardianCharlotte Higgins2011-12-06T21:31:01Z